Chronic back problems cause pain and disability for a large segment of the population. Adverse spinal conditions may be characteristic of age. In particular, spinal stenosis (including, but not limited to, central, canal, and lateral stenosis) and facet arthropathy may increase with age. Spinal stenosis results in a reduction of foraminal area (i.e. the available space for the passage of nerves and blood vessels), which may compress cervical nerve roots and cause radicular pain. Both neck extension and ipsilateral rotation, in contrast to neck flexion, may further reduce the foraminal area and contribute to pain, nerve root compression, and neural injury.
Cervical disc herniations may be a factor in spinal stenosis and may predominantly present upper extremity radicular symptoms. In this case, treatment may take the form of closed traction. A number of closed traction devices are available that alleviate pain by pulling on the head to increase foraminal height. Cervical disc herniations may also be treated with anterior and posterior surgery. Many of these surgeries are performed through an anterior approach, which requires a spinal fusion. These surgeries may be expensive and beget additional surgeries due to changing the biomechanics of the neck. There is a three percent incidence of re-operation after cervical spine surgery. Moreover, these surgeries may be highly invasive leading to long recovery times.
There is a need in the art for a device and procedure to increase foraminal height to reduce radicular symptoms of patients suffering the effects of spinal stenosis. There is also a need for the device to be adapted to allow for the procedure to be minimally invasive and to avoid modifying the biomechanics of the spine.